• Study: U.S. immigration policy perpetuates poverty

    A new study says that the U.S. current immigration system — that is, the legal immigration system — is dysfunctional in that it is not responsive to the socioeconomic conditions of the United States; the main flaw in the current system — a flaw, the report argues, which will be exacerbated by allowing millions of undocumented immigrants to become citizens — is that only a small share of legally admitted immigrants is sponsored by employers while the bulk are admitted because of family ties to earlier immigrants who may be living in poverty or near poverty

  • Data breaches compromise nearly 8 million medical records

    The revelation that millions of people have had their personal medical records stolen could slow the Obama administration’s efforts to digitize the nation’s health care records; in the last two years alone nearly eight million people have had their medical records stolen or compromised; 1.7 million patients, staff members, contractors, and suppliers at several New York hospitals had their information stolen when thieves removed them from an unlocked van; to ensure that medical records are safe, HHS has begun imposing penalties on health care providers who compromise their patient’s records; but some health care experts wonder if enforcing HIPAA alone will be enough to address the problem

  • DHS completes tests on mind reading technology

    DHS officials recently completed an initial round of tests for its new intent detecting technology; with the Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) program, DHS hopes to be able to identify terrorists or criminals before they execute an attack; FAST relies on remote sensors to measure several physical indicators like heart rate and how frequently one’s eyes flit back and forth; so far the technology has only been tested in a laboratory setting, but DHS says that it has been able to achieve a 70 percent accuracy rate; in the next battery of tests, officials will examine how FAST fares in more realistic settings; many scientists criticize the program for the dubious science behind it

  • New business: guided border tours

    The increased attention to the security of the U.S.-Mexico border has caused many Americans to want to see for themselves what is going on along the border; this gave Tucson, Arizona-based Gray Line an idea, and the “Border Crisis: Fact and Fiction” tour is the result; the guided tour takes passengers to various points along the Arizona part of the U.S.-Mexico border; the trips will be offered twice a month, or upon request for large groups; the all day tours, which include lunch, cost $75 per person

  • Industry leaders, policy makers to meet at SIA Government Summit

    The Security Industry Association (SIA) is gearing up to hold its annual Government Summit conference in Washington, D.C. once again; each year the two day event brings security professionals, business leaders, and policy makers together to discuss the latest federal and state trends as well as the latest legislation and regulations that affect the security industry; the event’s headliners are Bill Kristol and Bill Press; the two will debate one another on a wide range of issues including the impact of the 2010 mid-term elections, the 2012 presidential campaign, as well as policy matters; the conference will be held on 21 June to 22 June at the Phoenix Park Hotel in Washington, D.C

  • Global warming: Arctic access by land will diminish, but improve by sea

    Global warming over the next forty years will cut through Arctic transportation networks like a double-edged sword, limiting access in certain areas and vastly increasing it in others in absolute terms; winners are expected to be coastal communities, coastal resource-extraction operations, tourism, fishing, and shipping concerns; potential losers include inland mining and timber operations, inland oil and gas drilling, and smaller inland communities, often inhabited by indigenous peoples; Canada and Russia stand to lose the most winter-road potential as rising temperatures will prevent up to 400,000 square miles from hardening into potential roadways

  • Northrop wins $141 million follow-on contract for DOD biometric system

    Today, defense giant Northrop Grumman announced that it was awarded a $141 million follow-on task order to continue working with the Department of Defense (DOD) on its biometric identification system for military threats; under the contract, Northrop will continue work on the DOD’s Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), which functions as the centralized database that collects facial, fingerprint, iris, and palm biometric records on individuals that the Department of Defense has identified as persons of interest

  • Portable iPod Touch fingerprint scanner launched

    IPod Touch users can now turn their devices into a portable fingerprint scanner; last week, Fulcrum Biometrics unveiled its new FbF mobileOne biometric fingerprint reader and software for the iPod touch; using the Touch’s standard dock connector, the mobileOne device can scan and match fingerprints on the iPod or send it wirelessly to a remote server for authentication

  • Hydropower gaining traction around the world

    As more nations turn to renewable energy sources, wind and solar have often grabbed all the attention, but hydropower has been steadily making quiet gains. While hydroelectricity is becoming more prevalent, its future is riddled with uncertainty and difficult questions; in 2008, hydroelectricity generated more than 250 billion kilowatthours of electricity, roughly 67 percent of all renewable energy produced that year; new dam projects are also generating a lot of criticism from environmentalists and local residents who worry about the people who will be displaced as well as the dams’ environmental impacts; ironically hydroelectric dams will be affected by climate change, the very thing it is designed to combat

  • Barge traffic resumes on Mississippi River

    On a typical day, some 600 barges move back and forth along the Mississippi, with a single vessel carrying as much cargo as 70 tractor-trailers or 17 rail cars; the barges haul coal, timber, iron, steel, and more than half of America’s grain exports; interruptions of barge traffic could thus cost the U.S. economy hundreds of millions of dollars for each day the barges are idled; early Tuesday the Coast Guard halted barge and cargo haulers traffic along a 15-mile stretch of the river near Natchez, Mississippi; the Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers were worried that the heavy wake churned by barges and cargo haulers increase the pressure on levees which are already straining to hold back the rising river; on Tuesday night the Coast Guard re-opened the blocked section, and barges were allowed to go through but only one at a time, and at a very low speed

  • Drug violence causing U.S. firms to reconsider Mexican investments

    As the Mexican government’s battle against drug cartels rages on, U.S. businesses and their employees have become increasingly caught up in the crossfire, which has led many to reconsider investing in Mexico; a recent survey of U.S. companies by the U.S.— Mexico Chamber of Commerce found that only half were planning on moving ahead with investment plans in Mexico; U.S. companies and their workers have become increasingly caught up in the war as collateral damage as well as targets for kidnapping and extortion; in 2010 one out of ten companies reported kidnappings and 60 percent said that their employee had been beaten or threatened by the cartels

  • Ships increasingly turning to armed guards to combat piracy

    To stem the rapidly growing number of pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean, more shipping companies are turning to armed guards; last year attacks off the Somali coast hit an all-time high with forty-nine ships hijacked along with 1,016 crew members; to combat the growing threat of piracy an estimated 20 percent of ships operating in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden will hire armed guards within the next eighteen months, up from 12 percent; analysts say no ships have been successfully hijacked when armed guards were present

  • Saudi Arabia seeks $330 million worth of night vision gear

    Saudi Arabia is looking to buy $330 million worth of night vision and thermal vision equipment from the United States; the U.S. government agency facilitating the deal says the proposed sale would bolster Saudi Arabia’s capability to meet current and future threats from potential adversaries during operations conducted at night and during low-visibility conditions

  • HHS awards SIGA Technologies smallpox contract worth up to $2.8 billion

    New York-based SIGA Technologies has signed a 5-year, $433 million contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to deliver two million courses of the company’s smallpox antiviral, ST-246, to the Strategic National Stockpile; the contract includes options that would raise the contract’s total value to approximately $2.8 billion if these options are fully exercised

  • Is Google's Chromebook impervious to viruses?

    In a potential blow to the antivirus industry, Google recently announced the release of a series of laptops which the company claims to be so secure that there is no need to buy antivirus software; Chromebooks are designed to run nothing but a browser, which means nothing can be installed on the computer itself; with no executable files to be installed that also means antivirus and the malicious code it protects against have no room on the laptop; but, not all analysts are convinced that Google’s Chromebook is as secure as they claim; this move to a cloud based computer could signal a broader shift that could hamper the antivirus industry’s future prospects